Culver City Kink
One look at the sign on the door told us that Koplin del Rio was the gallery to hit during Culver City Art Walk over the weekend.
"Asian Banana" by Tracy Nakayama
“Erotic is the step between sensual and pornographic,” writes Marsha Burns, an artist at the exhibit. “What may be to some sensual to others is erotic, to others pornographic. Definitions are not something that interests me; the language to address a work of art must be learned.” She’s right. This is what we found.
"Pearls" by Randy Hayes
"Discovery" by Tracy Nakayama
“My interest in portraying sex is more about the feelings that linger after people have shared an intimate moment together than the act itself,” says Nakayama. “To say that I promote ‘free love’ isn’t true. Though I often depict individuals that have all the visual signifiers of being ‘hippies,’ to me they represent an idealized moment that couldn’t be sustained. They appear natural and uninhibited, practicing a lifestyle that challenged what society deemed acceptable. In the end, their belief in ‘freedom’ became their undoing which adds an element of melancholy. They failed, but we all fail. Without failure, what can be considered success? It’s about a moment in time. My works are invitations to escape into a moment in time which is all any of us have. Now. And now. And now.”
"Untitled" by Rico Lebrum
“They are apparitions of my own being to myself, because I would like to be double, or many upside down and right side up, masculine and feminine, carnal and remote, seen and unseen; these obsessive shapes keep popping up and now they keep me company — a company I have always wanted, now they do, they come, they say, they mirror me,” says Lebrum.
"Jock Lad" by Martin Ireland
“My drawings and paintings are discovered through an exploratory process, with models,” says Ireland. “Any figurative work using a life model in collaboration between subject and artist. It’s a passionate arrangement exploring the sensual and erotic participation at a sitting.”
"Ou'd (downfall)" by Oldrich Kulhánek
Kim Frohsin
Kim Frohsin
"Sagittal Section Fellatio" by Peter Zokosky
"Untitled" by Christine Wuenschel
“I have always felt an urgent drive to create figurative images; and more especially, images of myself,” says Wuenschel. “While there are several themes in my self-portraits, the subject of eroticism remains constant. I often find myself obsessive seeking erotic art and trying to incorporate it in my work. Other times the sensuality comes through in the drawing on its own. I often attribute this to the act of drawing being very physical and guttoral, whether consciously or subconsciously, eroticism is always preswnt in my work. The ultimate goal when drawing my fleshy figures is to create arousing, bodily, honest images to envelop the viewer.”
"Reflections by the Pool" by Tracy Nakayama
"Smear" by Jennifer Vanderpool
“Erotic art is more tantalizing when it is suggestive and provokes the viewer’s imagination,” Vanderpool says.
